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		<H2><A NAME="HDROVE" ></A>Chapter 1. Overview</H2>
		
<P><A NAME="PToC4" HREF="../usrguide.htm">Partial Table-of-Contents</A> 
<MENU>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_33" HREF="#HDROVEDX">1.1 Overview of Data Explorer</A>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_34" HREF="usrgu021.htm#HDRC11">1.2 System Structure</A>
<MENU>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_35" HREF="usrgu021.htm#Header_35">Graphical User Interface</A>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_36" HREF="usrgu021.htm#Header_36">Executive</A>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_37" HREF="usrgu021.htm#Header_37">Modules</A>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_38" HREF="usrgu021.htm#HDRDAM">Data Management</A>
<LI><A NAME="PToC_39" HREF="usrgu021.htm#Header_39">How the Data Model
Facilitates Interoperability</A>
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<A NAME="IDX473"></A>
<P>
This book describes the IBM Visualization Data
Explorer<TT><STRONG>*</STRONG></TT>,
which you can use in a
workstation environment.
Data Explorer is a visualization system that can be used in many application
areas and with a variety of data representations to extract
useful information from complex data.
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="HDROVEDX" ></A>1.1 Overview of Data Explorer</H2>
<P>
The Data Explorer graphical user interface allows end users to perform
tasks at various levels of sophistication.
For example, a user can use the user interface to apply data and adjust
input values to an existing visualization process.
A slightly more advanced user can construct a new visualization process,
called a visual program,
by connecting a network of Data Explorer&#39;s modules.
An expert programmer can create new modules, using C or FORTRAN, for
use with the system modules.
Besides the user interface, Data Explorer also provides a scripting language
interface, for users who want to build their own visualization
functions in a more traditional programming style.
<P>
Data Explorer&#39;s graphical user interface provides an integrated online
help facility.
This facility provides users with online access to the Data Explorer user
manuals, as well as with context-sensitive help information.
In addition to the help information provided with Data Explorer, the online
help facility allows users to document various aspects of
their particular visual programs.
Other users of these visual programs then have online access to this
program-specific documentation.
<P>
Data Explorer provides an extensive set of modules that you can use to visualize
your data.
For example, the Isosurface, Streamline, and AutoColor modules perform
the standard visualization functions of creating constant-value
surfaces, tracing particle paths through velocity fields,
and coloring objects based on a data value,
respectively.
<P>
In addition to these expected functions, Data Explorer also provides tools to
perform more sophisticated manipulation of data.
The Map module is a general purpose module that can map a data field
onto an arbitrary object--whether it is a streamline,
an isosurface, or even another data field&#39;s
computational mesh.
The Compute module can perform arithmetic or trigonometric operations
point-by-point not only on your data but also on the grid
itself.
Thus warping a grid, for example, is a simple matter of entering an
expression.
<P>
Even standard tools, such as Isosurface, operate on multiple types
of input grids.
For example, if the input field to Isosurface is 2-dimensional, the
module automatically creates contour lines.
<P>
The Data Explorer renderer can handle opaque or translucent surfaces,
translucent volumes, and opaque or translucent lines or
points--all in the same image.
In addition, data on different computational or observational grids
can be visualized together,
allowing you to correlate disparate data fields without requiring you
to force the data onto the same grid.
<P>
The power and interoperability of the modules is possible because
of the underlying data model, which is capable of describing a
wide variety of types of input data.
Because the data itself is self-describing, modules can be flexible in
the types of data they accept, and can perform their actions
appropriately based on their input.

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